CHARLEVILLE TIDY TOWNS – A YEAR OF PROGRESS

Charleville Tidy Towns has undertaken a number of major projects this year. Chief among these is redesigning and getting the fountain back in working order again. The fountain wasn’t in operation for some time. Water was leaking out but, as it wasn’t coming onto the street, it proved impossible to ascertain where it was going or how to remedy the problem.

It was decided to redesign the fountain so that the two major industries in Charleville, dairying and stainless steel manufacture, would be represented. To overcome the problem of leakage/seepage a large stainless steel container was designed to hold the water. A pump circulates the water through a tipped milk churn into the container which evokes the era of the old creamery days when milk was tipped from the churns into the weighing scales. To reinforce this theme, a creamery cart, complete with four milk churns was added. The border all around was planted with flowers for added interest and colour.

This project was made possible by the support of Kerry Group, Cork County Council, BCD Engineering, Plate-Tek Engineering, Senator Engineering, Dairy & Engineering Services, John Frawley Electrical, Maurice Carroll, Haulier, Charleville Fire Brigade and the Gardai. The planting was done by lady members of Charleville Tidy Towns.

INFORMATION BOARDS

Charleville is fortunate to have a beautiful town park which is used for sporting activities as well as runners and walkers. There is a variety of beautiful mature trees in the park and a wildlife area where native trees have been planted.

Charlville Tidy Towns wanted to enhance the enjoyment of all who use the park by providing some information about the trees and birds which can be found here. We want to have young people engage with their environment and become involved in some of our projects. Last year pupils from St Anne’s primary School brought in material for a bug hotel. They did some art work in the form of painting on blocks of wood inspired by their involvement in the bug hotel. Photocopies of this work can be found on one of the notice boards erected this year in the park.

We invited pupils from St Mary’s Secondary School to paint the most commonly found birds in the area. Their beautiful hand-painted birds are displayed on a notice board and we are delighted to be highlighting the work of these talented local artists.

We photographed many of the mature trees in the park. These photographs are displayed on the notice board accompanied by the names of the trees and pictures of their leaves, barks and fruit. This should be helpful in identifying the various trees to be seen on a walk around the park.

THE PLAZA

The planted bed at the Plaza, directly in front of the library was unsightly. Many of the shrubs had suffered severe damage and others were overgrown and unsuitable for this location. Tidy towns volunteers, along with Tus workers undertook the heavy work of clearing the damaged shrubs/trees.

The soil was then levelled and raked by volunteers and Tus workers and got ready for planting. Again the ladies selected suitable shrubs, weed block was put in place and the shrubs planted. A layer of clean stones completed this project. We were helped to spread the stones by some scouts from the local troup who volunteered their services that evening. We thank them and their leaders for their help in helping us to weed the car park that evening also.

WATER HARVESTING

One of the problems associated with hanging baskets and floral displays around the town is the amount of water needed to sustain them during dry periods in the summer. Conscious of conserving water, we sought the permission of Cork County Council to put in place a tank to harvest the water running off the roof of the library. This was granted and we are indebted to Tus for putting the tank in place and BCD and Plate-Tek for doing all the necessary piping to make this viable.

RAINBOW HOUSE

The derelict house on Smith’s Lane which once showed paintings of Mrs. Doyle and Fr. Jack on its windows had suffered severe weather damage and become an eyesore..We sought the help of the art students and teacher in St. Mary’s Secondary School and challenged them to come up with a design for the outside wall. The art teacher got the three first year classes to work on this. Charleville Tidy Towns was presented with three sketches, from which one was chosen. The teacher then worked with senior students to refine this as it wasn’t practical for a busy street. The painter and art teacher then worked together to bring this design to life. The finished product is a credit to them and the talented students of St Mary’s and we are delighted to showcase local talent.

CORK COUNTY COUNCIL ANTI-LITTER CHALLENGE

We took part again this year in the Anti-Litter Challenge run by Cork County Council. This competition aims to raise awareness of the problem of litter on our streets which , unfortunately, is a major problem. The huge number of cigarette butts carelessly discarded on the streets, despite the number of bins available, reflects very badly on our town. We are hugely indebted to Mr. John Moloney and his staff on Cork County Council for the tremendous work they do in maintaining our streets as clean as possible. We will not see an improvement on our streets until we all realise that it is the responsibility of every single person to dispose responsibly of their own litter.

This year we enlisted the help of our schools and we thank them for their enthusiastic participation. St. Anne’s Primary School and CBS Primary School looked after the streets outside their premises for the entire duration of the competition, while transition year students from St. Mary’s Secondary School and CBS Secondary looked after Main St during the first judging period . As they were then on holidays Tidy Towns volunteers did a litterpick every week day morning for the two remaining judging periods.

INVOLVEMENT OF LOCAL SCHOOLS

There is a huge amount of talent and goodwill in our young people and we do them a disservice if we don’t ask them to use their talents for the good of their community. We are very fortunate that all the local schools we approached this year were so willing to help. Two primary and two secondary schools took part in the Anti-Litter Challenge and were of tremendous help to us. There is benefit also in raising awareness of the litter problem among young people.

The beautiful, eye-catching facade of the “rainbow house” on Smith’s Lane is a credit to the art teacher and students of St. Mary’s.

The hand-painted birds on the notice board in the park is the work of transition year students in St. Mary’s and the lovely paintings inspired by the bug hotel which they helped set up last year is the work of students of At. Annes.

The display of bluebells in May under the trees behind the graveyard was the work of students of CBS Primary School and their teachers. Wildflower seeds were harvested in Autumn and scattered in Spring at Canon Burke Place by pupils of St. Mary’s

We thank all school staff and pupils who helped us in any way.

ONGOING WORK FROM SPRING TO AUTUMN

Generally the group meets on Monday evenings at 7pm to tackle whatever work needs doing. This varies from planting flowers to clearing weeds, cutting overgrown hedges, litter picking, painting and generally keeping the town looking clean and tidy. We thank all who help us in this, especially Cork County Council with whom we work closely and who have given us great support. We thank all the traders who brighten the streetscape by painting their premises and putting out lovely floral displays.